In order to enjoy better fishing results, it is necessary for
most anglers to practice casting on a continuing basis. Admittedly,
to some, practice is B-O-R-I-N-G, so it's my job to make casting
practice so much fun you'll almost like it as much as fishing!
(And down the road you might even want to enter a casting tournament!)

LESSON ONE: Why we need to practice?

Except in still fishing, jigging or trolling, casting skill
is the most important determining factor in fishing success.
This is especially true in fly fishing.

You can obtain the best fly-fishing gear money can buy, reserve
prime time at a storied trout river, but if you are a poor caster,
your results will suffer.

Suppose you're on a Montana blue-ribbon trout stream and your
guide points out a big brown. You know, the kind that has spots
almost as large as a dime?

Even the guide is excited as he whispers his strategy: "Ya gotta
put that fly about five feet above him, in his feeding lane. Don't
cast over him 'cuz he'll spook. If you cast too far ahead of him,
you'll have drag. He's a big fella, I'll tell ya. And don't slap
the fly down hard."

Geez! So there you are. Waist deep in the river. The big trout
is sipping flies methodically. Slurp. Pause. Slurp.
Pause. Pause. Slurp!

You paid $590 for that graphite rod, the one that's shaking in
your trembling hand, two hundred bucks for the fly reel, and
hundreds of dollars for lines, flies, waders and other incidentals.
And, of course, there are lodge expenses, the airline tickets,
and the guide. A small fortune.

Your guide is watching you closely as you lengthen your cast.
The moment of truth.

You.

The fish.

The quivering rod.

The trout.

The big trout. Perhaps a "lifetime trout."

Can you make that cast? Will your cast land too short? Will you
dump that leader like a batch of cooked spaghetti on the trout's
head?

Maybe you'll make that perfect cast, and the fish will rise to
the fly. Maybe.

Perhaps you're in the Keys and your guide spots a tarpon about
80 feet away. The wind is blowing the wrong way (it always is,
at critical times). You will need to double haul. Maybe with
only one false cast make a 70- to 80-foot cast.

Will you be able to make that cast?

Or let's magically place you on a pristine bonefish flat in the
Bahamas. Zoom! You're there! Perfect conditions. You've spotted
a big bone tailing, but no matter how much ooomph you put into
the cast you're 10-15 feet short. You move up closer. And closer.
Your cast is still short. But the fish is still tailing. Just a
little closer. And the fish spooks!

Or you're on a bass lake. A largemouth just fed voraciously under
that overhanging oak. It captured a frog, out for a little afternoon
swim. Big fish, too. You need to get that bass bug just under those
branches, and if you do, you know you'll be rewarded with a vicious
strike.

Can you make that cast? Or will you hang up?

This is not going to be a how-to-cast department. Thankfully, there
are lots of great books on casting. By Joan Wulff, Lefty Kreh and
Mel Krieger just to name three. Video tapes, too.

There are hundreds--perhaps thousands-of fly-casting schools
across the country. Tackle manufacturers, fly shops and qualified
individuals regularly conduct these schools. Even Castwell at the
Fish-In.

A lot of people go to these casting seminars, and most learn
to cast well enough to catch some fish, and a few attentive
students master the casting technique quickly.

But most of us, put away that fly rod until the next fishing trip,
which may be months away, and learned lessons, casting stroke,
timing and narrow loops dissolve into a hazy memory. "Geez,
did Bob tell me to stop the rod here or there? Thumb on top
of the grip. Right? Do I cast with my wrist?" Forgotten lessons.

The answer is practice. This holds true for some veteran fly
fishermen, most intermediate anglers and all novice fly casters.

Practice. Practice. Practice.

It's natural that after you've learned to cast you want to go
fishing. You don't want to practice. Practice is boring, you say.
It's like having to practice music scales when instead you want
to play Bach or Beethoven. Or Brubeck or Basie.

My job here is not only to make "practice casting" not boring,
but to make it so interesting that you'll want to practice often.
Whenever you have some spare time.

Okay, down the line, I'm talking about tournament casting. Hey,
hold on . . . don't click me off. You don't have to compete in
tournaments (although some of you may want to later on when those
competitive juices start flowing). I'm talking about making
casting practice so much fun, so challenging, that you not only
develop good casting skill (so that next time you can make that
cast to that brown on the Montana stream, or reach that tarpon
on the flats), but actually look forward to your next session
with enthusiasm.

What is great, is that you can do your target and distance casting
practice almost anywhere, and it will only cost you a few dollars
total. Every time you stop to sock a bucket of golf balls it costs
money. Every time you shoot a round of trap or skeet it costs money.
Right? Not so in casting. In addition to your tackle that you
already own, the practice casting materials will cost you $14.87.
Less if you want to make them yourself.

Remember. Much of the fun of fly fishing for trout is the actual
fly casting. I once computed that our small fishing club made 187
casts per person for each trout he rose (most of our fishing is
"blind"). Doesn't it make sense then that you should enjoy your
fly casting while fishing to a point where it is almost a reward
in itself? The more you become skilled at fly casting, the more
you're going to enjoy fly fishing. And catch more fish.

Stay tuned every week.
~ Jim C. Chapralis

Next session: The ground rules and targets.

About Jim:

Jim Chapralis is a world traveler, a pioneer in the international fishing
travel business, and author, most recently of Fishing Passion, reviewed in
our Book Review section. He is an avid angler - and caster.
Currently involved with the 94th Annual National Casting
Tournament July 29 to August 3, 2002. You can reach Jim via his
website www.AnglingMatters.com